"Why were we not called immediately?" Teal'c questioned as he, Doctor Jackson, and a couple of airmen rushed from out the elevator that had just arrived at the floor.

"You were told as soon as we knew, sir," replied one of the airmen.

"We don't have the monitors for her corridor in the same room as the monitors for the Goa'uld floor, so it took some time," continued another soldier.

"But Nirrti couldn't have found her room that fast!" suggested Daniel. The warnings that Nirrti had left her room followed by the one saying that Barbara's room was breached came too close to each other. There was certainly a delay.

The group turned the corner, and then they were deafened by a scream.

James Davis was relatively new to the base. He was recently transferred to the base, but he was happy with this new deployment because every single day brought new things to the base. There was always a chance for a change in the established routine. Of course, the danger aspect of all these events was a bit more intense than if he was deployed at any other base in the country, and only marginally higher than if he was deployed in any of the bases in the East. But he enjoyed his job.

During the preparation for the negotiations, he was among the personnel to be sent to upper levels but at the last moment, he was tasked with manning the video cameras as the Goa'uld did not notice the cameras that the SGC had installed in the rooms for them. It was such luck! (Doctor Daniel Jackson was salivating a bit when these records were mentioned as it would allow him to observe the Go'auld System Lords in their natural behavior. Such insight! Much new information! So wow!). So here he was, sitting behind the desk overlooking the video feeds from the cameras in the Goa'uld rooms. Just in case they would try something.

Davis was happy he was allowed a cup of coffee in the room. He took a sip of his still-warm coffee. Warm coffee was only marginally better than the already cooled-down coffee, while the hot coffee was the 'crème de la crème' of base coffee. Especially if sugar was added. And a drop of milk. The taste of coffee filled his mouth, covering completely his tongue, and as he swallowed the nutty aftertaste filled his mouth. The airman let out a happy sigh before glancing at the screens.

All was calm.

Nirrti had just left the Goa'uld common room and Davis followed on the cameras that showed the corridor as she went to her room. Davis kept looking as the female Goa'uld then paced around the room. He took another sip to enjoy. The feed on one of the screens abruptly flashed and a moment later it was showing the static. The coffee spray that had erupted from Davis' mouth was strong and impressively covered the static-y screen. The feed that was translating Nirrti's room had just cut off. Davis grabbed a box of tissues and tried to wipe the best he could before sending the message out that one of the feeds was cut.

He didn't think he will be allowed another coffee inside.

"Hello there, Bar~ba~ra," Nirrti's quiet voice melodically pronounced her name and Barbara felt how the goosebumps traveled up her arms and back. "It is so nice to meet you face to face."

"Nirrti," Barbara rasped, clawing at the hand that was holding her neck. The Goa'uld was holding tight. "What do you want?"

It was really useless to ask this question in the hindsight, wasn't it…?

"Oh, so the lovely baby girl can't speak like the rest of us!" Barbara tried to gasp for breath. The hand holding her neck tightened up and shook with every Nirrti's cackle. The Goa'uld kept laughing and laughing, without a care. And why should she, she could turn invisible, and she had already knocked out the guards posted to guard the brat's room. The Tauri people could not possibly have a device to find her.

"Let… go…I can speak just fine."

The Goa'uld having laughed enough threw the girl towards the far corner of the room. She hit the wall with her temple and the shoulder. The collision knocked out the air of her lungs and left Barbara lying on the floor trying to catch her breath. The only grace was she was lying on the floor on the back. The side she hit the wall with was smarting and was feeling slightly heavy. Her lip was stinging.

"Oh, it has been a while since I laughed like this," murmured the Goa'uld before wiping her eyes with her free hand. She then came closer to the lying girl. "I don't really have the time to chat with you. I will need to collect enough research material, but you don't really have to be alive for that, now do you…? I guess I will have to kill you. Anything better than leaving you alive for Yu, or even worse, Cronus to pick you up and use you."

"I would hate to be killed," Barbara whispered interrupting Nirrti's monologue, but the Goa'uld didn't really notice. The fake goddess was adjusting the Kara Kesh on her hand, setting it to be just a bit more snuggly. Barbara tried to turn to her belly and to get up. She had managed to get on her knees before the Goa'uld walked closer and tilted her chin up. Barbara glared at the Goa'uld, who wiped the blood that had accumulated on Barbara's lip with her thumb, smudging it a bit on her chin as well.

"Although, it would be such a loss… To be able to pick up that brain of yours for the rest of the information you might be hiding there… I might just take you for myself," Nirrti removed her hold, but Barbara kept looking her in the eye. The Goa'uld then trained her Kara Kesh on the girl and activated it.

The elevator doors opened with a small ring and Cronus stepped out of the elevator. The System Lord looked around, his eyes flashing white as he heard a high-pitched scream coming from his right.

Nirrti had found the brat.

He went towards the scream which soon had cut off. But he didn't really need the scream to find where exactly Nirrti was getting her information of future events.

Should he stop Nirrti? The brat most likely saved his life by messing up everybody's plans.

He didn't really need the information she could provide. She spoke that weird language, and if the humans didn't manage to teach her their language and Thor did nothing on the subject… He might have to kidnap the Tauri's translator to understand the brat.

Not the best conditions to do that right now.

Eh, might as well save the brat.